State to Give Branford Man $4M for Wrongful Imprisonment

A wrongfully imprisoned Branford man will receive more than $4 million in compensation.

An article in the New Haven Register reported that Lawrence J. Miller Jr. will receive the funds for languishing in prison for crimes he did not commit.

In 1981, while living in Putnam Lake, NY, he was erroneously identified as the man who assaulted a 15-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy in Danbury, the paper said.

The victims had been strangled and pistol whipped, and there were reports the girl had been sexually assaulted.
Miller was convicted and sentenced to 32 years in prison, in spite of the fact that there was no forensic evidence, such as fingerprints tying him to the assault, the Register said.

In December 1995, another man in prison on a 35-year sentence—Daniel Johnson of Danbury—confessed to the crimes and Miller was released from prison a month later.

Miller is receiving the compensation because of a state law that provided a mechanism for those who claim wrongful imprisonment to validate their cases, according to the Register.

For the entire story, read the New Haven Register by clicking here.